I’ve been reading quite a bit lately about labor laws, compliance posters and OSHA standards. This is due to our newest client, AllInOnePosters.com, one of the nation’s leading manufacturers of HR Compliance Posters.

Along with that thought process, I started to investigate how business owners should be dealing with the current and possible Swine Flu pandemic. As employers or heads of companies, you have an obligation to make sure your workplace is properly and accurately dealing with this possible cause for great concern. At the end of the day, it’s all about being ready to protect your employees and being in compliance with any state or federal standards.

I came across this great article about the issue on OCRegister.com, our hometown newspaper. You might find it extremely informative about how to deal with the Swine Flu pandemic in the workplace. Here is an excerpt.

For most employers, protecting their employees during an influenza pandemic will depend on two basic approaches: emphasizing “common sense” hygiene (cleaning hands and decontaminating surfaces) and practicing “social distancing.” Social distancing means reducing the frequency, proximity, and duration of contact between people (both employees and customers) to reduce the chances of spreading pandemic influenza virus from person-to-person.

Employers may take additional protective measures, including engineering changes, procedure changes, and requiring the use of personal protective equipment, based upon the specific occupational exposure risk of their job tasks and work place. Use of respiratory protection (respirators) and barrier protection (facemasks) may be components of a comprehensive plan to prepare workplaces for an influenza pandemic, but employers must comply with applicable OSHA standards.

Where has the day gone? This is a question business owners often ask of themselves at the end of every work day. In many cases, the day might come to an end with a sinking feeling of low productivity. This is only natural because small business owners wear many different hats throughout the day.

Now more than ever, it is crucial for business owners to prioritize their tasks so that they may survive and perhaps even thrive during these tumultuous economic times. Time management is one of those elusive “art forms” especially if you spend your day putting out business fires. Bestselling books have been written about it. One of the great ones I recommend is “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” by Stephen R. Covey. Although the book is not completely focused on time management, it does explain in extensive detail how successful people are those who’ve mastered how to prioritize their tasks.

My advice is to schedule your business day with a firm regiment of time blocks. Of course, you won’t follow the schedule to the exact minute because we are not robots and the unexpected will always interrupt you. Do your best to stick to the regiment. At the very least, the time blocks should serve as a constant reminder of your business priorities. If practiced correctly, this daily schedule will give you a much better feeling of accomplishment at the end of each day. And most importantly, you will have moved your business forward.

Last week, I posted an ad on Craigslist to fill one of our part-time marketing assistant positions. Boy… was I in for a surprise. In my 15 plus years in management, I have never experienced anything like it.

In a period of 48 hours, I received over 200 resumes and since then I have been receiving about 10 to 15 resumes a day. Keep in mind that the position I am looking to fill is an entry level position with an allocation of about 20 hours a week.

If these numbers don’t exemplify our current state of economic disaster, I don’t know what does. Nevertheless, this blog post isn’t necessarily about the economy or the high number of responses I received.

After a bit of pondering and reflection, I decided instead to write a post to assist those looking for a job in this economy. Many of these specific job searching tips have originated from my observation as an employer of what job seekers are doing wrong. You’ll see that the ROOT of these mistakes are deeply intertwined with today’s technology. That’s right. Technology isn’t always your friend when you’re searching for a job.

1) DON’T MASS SUBMIT: E-mailing your resume blindly to every job post on the Internet is not a good idea. Your resume will be discarded almost immediately if your mass submission is obvious. Quantity is not your goal.

2) READ & ANSWER: Take the time to carefully read the job post. Retrieve from it specific criteria the employer is looking for and address them directly in your cover letter. This is the “why” and “how” you are the right candidate. If the employer wants an apple, don’t tell them you are an orange.

3) BE PROFESSIONAL: Don’t underestimate how much employers appreciate professionalism. Being “stuffy” or “starched” is in most cases preferred–at least initially. You’ll have plenty of time to be cool and casual after you get the job.

4) WRITE A COVER LETTER: I don’t mean cut and paste the same one you’ve used 500 times. Again, address specific needs of the employer and answer “why” and “how” you’ll be the perfect candidate. If you were a movie, your cover letter is the 30 second trailer. Make it powerful enough for the employer to want more.

5) TALK SALARY LATER: Read what the posting states about salary. If it doesn’t meet your requirement, don’t apply. You’re not going to convince an employer to pay you more just because your experience states so. Remember that your primary goal initially is to get an interview.

6) GO TRADITIONAL: Don’t abandon traditional job searching tools like a printed resume on nice stationery. We received over 200 resumes via e-mail. Do you think we would have taken special note if we had received ONE via regular mail? Isn’t it funny how the Internet has made going traditional the stand-out strategy.

Job searching in this economy will require diligence, commitment and a lot of creativity. My most important advice is to be different. Why are you different and how are you communicating these valued differences to your potential employer.

I want to wish everyone out there looking for a job my absolute best. I won’t wish you luck because it’s really not about luck. Like all worthwhile efforts, you need a solid strategy and a plan.